WASHINGTON -- The House voted 238-173 Tuesday for legislation that would eliminate a requirement that oil and gas pipelines crossing international borders get a permit from the White House -- a move intended to push forward the Keystone XL Pipeline.

All five Louisiana House Republican members -- Steve Scalise, Bill Cassidy, Vance McAllister, John Fleming and Charles Boustany - voted for the bill. The delegation's only Democrat, Rep. Cedric Richmond of New Orleans, voted no.

An effort by Senate Republicans to pass a similar bill, sponsored by Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., and John Hoeven, R-N.D., was blocked Tuesday by Senate Democrats.

The White House issued a veto threat for the House bill, which picked up 17 Democratic votes.

Cassidy, the Baton Rouge Republican who is Landrieu's leading Republican challenger in the fall Senate race, said it long past time to approve the pipeline.

"It helps create North American security," Cassidy said. "No longer are we buying oil from countries which hate us, financing their effort to undermine our society, rather we keep that money with our closest ally who in turn buys goods from us. We should approve this bill, this project in particular, and built it for Americans. It is better for the environment. It is for our economy, most of all, it is better for our workers."

Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said America and the world is faced with "dangerous climate change," and therefore has a responsibility "to think through the impacts of proposed cross-border energy infrastructure projects."

"If Congress is going to establish a new permitting rule, or rules through legislation, it should do so in a thoughtful and balanced way. Instead this bill creates a process that rubber stamps the project and eliminates meaningful environmental review and public participation. This will undoubtedly benefit TransCanada and other multi-national oil companies... But it will harm the American people that we're here to represent," Waxman said.

Scalise, the Jefferson Republican just elected House Majority Whip, said the House is moving a series of bills designed to expand energy jobs.

"The quickest way to jump start our economy is American energy," Scalise said. "If you look at the regions of the country with the lowest unemployment, of those in the top ten, half of them are energy economies. I'm proud to represent one of those, the Houma-Thibodeaux area."

Over the last two years, the House has passed bills to advance the Keystone XL Pipeline, but the measure has gone nowhere in the Senate, where supporters of the project say they are four votes short of the 60 needed to advance pro-pipeline legislation. They would need another six or seven votes beyond 60 to overcome a likely veto by President Barack Obama.

Obama administration officials have said they need to see how Nebraska resolves a dispute over the project's route through the state before a final decision on the pipeline can be made.